How much do you feed your 10 month old?

Hi everyone!

I wonder if anybody can give me more advice about what (else) to feed my daughter. She's my second child, but sometimes I feel as though she's my first because my son was SO much easier! My son was a super easy baby in all aspects, but my daughter has been a little challenging...

Background info: She's a big baby! 4.2kg at birth. In the 99th percentile for both weight and height ever since. Now at nearly 10 months old she's 12kg and about 78cm tall.

Now the problem: Most nights she still wakes up hungry! Tonight she had 400ml of formula before finally falling asleep! Most people will say to feed her more during the day, but she won't eat any more. Sometimes I feel as though I'm forcing the food in, but later she still wakes up hungry!
My son was also an eating machine and we'd give him a banana if he wouldn't fall asleep, but we can't do that with my daughter as bananas make her constipated.

So, if anyone out there has a similar size baby with a similar appetite, I'd love to hear how much they are eating. In grams please, not bowls - because their size vary too much.

I think you need to really cut down on the milk and feed much more solids starting with a proper lunch. Protein is the thing which will help her get filled up not just carbs. My sons are a similar size and just have morning and evening milk with full breakfast, lunch and dinner plus morning and afternoon snacks. I would go to a paediatrician or to the Well Baby clinic at the Matilda for further advice. Or buy the Annabel Karmel "Complete Baby & Toddler Meal Planner" to get some ideas of what the diet should look like.

Not quite sure what you mean with "not just carbs". There is protein in porridge oats, yoghurt, cheese, pasta, veges.
But thanks for the tip about Annabel Karmel! Will try to get some more ideas from her books/website.

There are lots of reasons why babies wake at night, hunger is only one of them. Some people are blessed with babies who sleep through from an early age, some still wake well into toddlerhood. If your baby is well and energetic during their awake time and you are offering plenty of nutritious food which is sounds like you are then I really wouldn't worry, they'll sleep through in their own time and it's unlikely that you'll be able to get them to sleep through by filling them up during the day - different babies have different metabolisms so what works for one won't work for another.

For proteins, give her lentils. Not the tinned variety but the dried lentils, soaked overnight and boiled with crushed garlic, eaten with rice and a few tablespoons of yogurt. Inexpensive and nutritious. Annabel Karmel has a few of those recipes. You coudl also give her chick peas, boiled soft and mashed slightly.

Another high protein meal I gave my baby was minced chicken with mashed up tofu, with shredded carrot and egg.

Another favourite was chili con carne, minus spices.

I also gave my baby snacks of steamed baby carrots & haricot beans. She was teething so loved to chew them.

Don't get too hung up about quantities. If she has a voracious appetite, go for the "dense" foods that will fill her up.

Just remembered, besides Annabel Karmel, another useful book was the Gina Ford baby weaning book. There were good step-by-step instructions on meal planning and baby development. I was not too crazy about the scheduling but did find the meal planning very useful.

If your baby has a good appetite I would cut down on the baby biscuits and give her steamed veggies for snacks. Besides steamed carrots and haricot beans, I gave my baby steamed diced sweet potato. She also had boiled chick peas for snacks.

In terms of quantities, be guided by your baby. We used 1 rice bowl (the bowls for serving individual rice portiions in Chinese restaurants) as the measure. We would give my baby half a bowl, and increase it gradually. It came to a point where she was eating 1 full rice bowl of food for a meal, and we would joke that she ate more than my helper, who has a small appetite.

Do give your baby a wide variety of foods and different cooking styles. My baby was very adventurous with food and it was very satisfying to see her gobble down everything enthusiastically.